The Waves out-blocked the Ramblers 5.0-4.0, but a solid defensive back row by LUC with 37 digs to Pepperdine's 21 hurt the home team's efforts. The Waves put up 35 kills on a .228 output along with 35 assists and five aces, but the opposition countered with 40 kills on a .355 clip with 38 assists and six aces for the overall win.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET

Set K-E-TA (Pct)

1. 10-6-30 (.133)

2. 11-5-32 (.188)

3. 14-3-30 (.367)

TOTAL: 35-14-92 (.228)

LOYOLA CHICAGO ATTACK BY SET

Set K-E-TA (Pct)

1. 12-4-23 (.348)

2. 14-6-27 (.296)

3. 14-3-26 (.423)

TOTAL: 40-13-76 (.355)

NOTABLES

The win for Loyola Chicago tonight is the first time the Ramblers have beaten the Waves all-time.

This is the first time this season the Waves have lost twice in one week.

The Waves have posted two top-five upsets in the past three weeks, with a 3-0 sweep over #2 UCLA and a 3-1 win over #4 UC Irvine.

David Wieczorek leads the conference in points/set, aces/set and kills/set and is second in hitting percentage.

The action went back and forth in the first set, but after a 10-10 tie the Ramblers pulled away by three-points. Although the Waves would close the gap to 21-19, LUC had the edge and worked for a 25-21 set win for the early advantage.

Fueled by the lead and costly errors at the service line for Pepperdine, LUC broke out to a 10-6 lead early in the second set. The Waves countered late in the action to tie the set at 17's with kills from Michael Wexter and Alex Harthaller, and a big block from Max Chamberlain and Harthaller, but the opposition always stayed one point ahead. After another 20-17 lead for the Ramblers, Pepperdine once again closed the gap at the 22-22 mark. After going point-for-point to a tie at 24-24, Loyola put a pair of kills down for the 26-24 set win and 2-0 match lead.

In the third and final set, the Waves battled hard, laying down a .367 attack output with 14 kills, but the Ramblers stayed hot with 14 kills of their own on a .423 success rate to pull ahead 19-14 late in the action. Three kills from Harthaller and an ace from David Wieczorek helped the Waves to an 18-20 deficit, but LUC closed the door with a big attack effort en route to the 25-20 set win to complete the sweep.

NEXT UP

Next, the Waves return home to host No. 6 Loyola Chicago at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse. Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @PepperdineWaves. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.